Mixed Salad
by Guntz
Summary: I was just having another lucid dream. Any minute, I was going to wake up from all the traveling, near-death experiences, and magical moments I spent with a group of misfits that ranged from a monkey-boy, a rich girl, a couple of shape-shifters, and a desert bandit... Any minute now. Trigger Warnings: Past Abuse, Dub/Non-Con, Drug/Alcohol Abuse, and Mental Issues! SI/OC
1. Enter the Dragon

_Screams from the distance and a hairsbreadth away  
_

 _Everything Crashing down to rubble_

 _The Explosions lit the sky like perverse play of fireworks_

 _Nothing seemed right, the Blur was everywhere all at once_

 _The utter Terror that wrecked through every living body_

 _So much pain... so much Agony..._

 _Too many losses... why did this happen? The Sadness overwhelming..._

 ** _VenGeANCe! i WIlL―_**

 ** _ScReAMs_**

 ** _CRAshINg_**

 ** _epLOsIoNS_**

 ** _BluR_**

 ** _tERror_**

 ** _aGOnY_**

 ** _SaDNEsS_**

 ** _VENGEANCE!_**

 ** _"I WILL KILL YOUUUU_** ** _―"_**

* * *

I shot up, choking the air, and screamed.

There was the sound of thunder rumbling rapidly which grew louder in volume until it unleashed a mighty clap. I screamed at the horrible sound, my hands covering my ears and my body curling in on itself to prepare for the worst outcome. Forces beyond my power gripped onto me and I struggled as I cried against the power that threatened to overwhelm me. The whirlwind of madness grew and grew and I could only helplessly scream in hopes that someone— _anyone_ —would come and save me from this darkness ready to swallow me whole—

"—p! You're okay! _WAKE UP_!" someone screamed into my ear.

Like a switch turned on to illuminate and clear away the dark and foggy shadows of both the mind and body, my eyes snapped open and I was myself. Or some part of it was myself. I breathed in, recalling Dr. Heinrich's words, and slowly (albeit shakily) withdrew the air from my lungs to repeat. Vaguely, I could feel fingers gently brushed against my hair and I appreciated the sentiment as I heard a voice murmur gently.

"It's okay," the voice whispered almost as if they were close to my ear. "You're okay. No one's gonna hurt you, I swear."

Suddenly tired, more so than when I fell into bed after facing the world that knew too much for my liking, I breathed in and slowly came to grips with my nerves.

It made it easier to sleep when I felt those fingers still brushing softly through my thick hair. The last thing I thought before I fell into unconsciousness was when was the last time someone had cared enough to help me back to sleep without shoving pills down my throat...

 **..**

 **..**

* * *

 **..**

 **..**

I felt warm.

I never feel warm. The only time to feel warm was when the hospital changed the bed sheets to thicker quilts to provide their patients during colder seasons, but even then I never felt truly warm. It just made everything colder.

However, there was nothing covering me completely and I felt as warm as when I took a long hot bath in steaming water that it made my toes to my head feel heady. It's been so long since I felt that, truly.

Slowly, my eyes opened, and I'm looking at fire.

 **…**

 _'...what?'_

For a terrifying second I wondered if someone had snuck inside my room and thought it funny to set my trash on fire to get some sort of reaction (and probably not at all thinking about the consequences of unattended fires that emitted smoke from which people could simply die from inhaling too much of it in their goddamn sleep). The fire, I found, was not at all from some trashcan but from what looked like an old-school stove I've usually seen in documentaries about long-dead civilizations.

Curious and wary, I lift my head from the pillows. My body felt warm, heavy, and lethargic, but I didn't let that deter me in my need to search and investigate the strange new place I found myself surrounded in.

Instead of plain, dull white walls that surrounded me with a single steel door (that was always locked from the outside), I saw Eastern-style ornaments that brought a sort of life to the room. Two large circular windows on two sides of the room, a rectangular table off the side, drawers on the other end of the room, shelves full of pots and pans stacked together on a wall, and jugs sitting neatly beside blue double-doors that no doubt led outside the room. The room, I observed upon further notice, didn't look like as if it had been dusted for some time. Dust bunnies scattered in the corners of the small room, cobwebs lingering on the ceiling, and small cracks beginning form on the walls. The owner of this room, and possibly the house if it had gotten far, needed to be renovated if they wanted to keep the home from crumbling to the ground from wear.

 _'Am I dreaming...?'_ I wondered, and not for the first time.

My answer comes in the form of a sleepy snort from somewhere close by. Surprised, I look down at the blankets covering my lower half and I whip them off to reveal what's hidden within.

There, head resting against the apex of my legs, lied a little boy with wild ebony hair. This left me in a sense of stupor for a long moment.

 _'No wonder I felt so heavy,'_ I vaguely thought before my brain finally caught up with me.

I was not in my room. _I was not in my room_. I was inside a room that belonged to someone who I didn't know and I was on _their_ bed. I paled at the thought that I had woken up in another stranger's bed after a night of fucking their brains out when I had probably consumed an unhealthy amount of alcohol—

 _'No, NO! Not anymore! I don't do that!'_

Scared and confused, I throw myself off the bed. I heard a yelp and a body hitting the floor from behind me but I couldn't bring myself to look back and do something about it. I had to leave! I had spent years, awful years, wasting away behind the booze, drugs, and sex that it had left me in a state of reckless abandon. It was a wonder how I was still functioning, my mind crumbling just as the world did when I lost everything in a single night because—

I didn't dare look back. I slammed into the double doors and forced them open, expecting to run into a hallway...

Cool breeze of the night air and the glow of the crescent moon greeted me instead.

I was once again left dumbfounded.

Nothing but tall mountains that looked rather like great, big pillars surrounding the land went on for miles, the dense forest going along, and the air alive with crickets stringing up a tune or two. And the stars and moon tonight looked more brighter than I had ever seen them in my whole life, or the life of which I would barely recall.

"... where...?" I croaked out, my eyes darting around to look for some sign of skyscraper buildings, urban neighborhoods, street lights, and busy highways, none of which were not in my field of vision.

"Ow!" I heard someone cry from behind me. "That hurt! Whadja do that for?!"

I whipped around and froze.

The biggest thing that stood out was the hair. Hair so wild that it stood up in impossible directions without some sort of gel. And that hair made all the air in my lungs leave, my heart squeeze, and my eyes feel as though they were about to crack.

Standing at the doorway of a small Eastern-style shack was a little boy with spiky dark hair, dressed in dark purple clothes, and pointing a red pole at me. And there, whipping wildly behind him like some sort of vivacious snake, was a little brown tail...

All I could do was stare back at the angry little face.

"You might 'ave fooled me earlier, but you won't catch me off guard again, monster! Or my name isn't Son Goku!" the boy yelled as he crouched low for an attack. "Whaddya have to say for attacking me in my sleep?!"

I crumpled to the dirt floor.

My earliest memory, I was ten-years-old sitting in a basement with the television on, and I was watching a boy with a monkey tail flying on a cloud. I couldn't go upstairs because dad... _I couldn't go upstairs_. Every day I would watch the cartoon until I wasn't able to (they cut the power off, we didn't have the money, dad wanted me to be quiet until _it was over_ ). Eventually, I was able to watch it again, but that was after so many years. Things had changed, things were a lot darker, there was many more reasons to fight and die and rise and repeat the whole process.

But that had been a long time ago...

Something brushed against my shoulder and I instinctively slapped it away.

"Leave me alone!" I flinched away from the touch.

"You're not a monster, right?" came a question.

I didn't bother answering him. He didn't know what kind of monster I was, anyway. I didn't need to have fangs and claws to be a monster.

He continued on, ignorant of the fact that I was trying to erase his existence with my mind. "Otherwise you wouldn't have a tail like me!"

That made me pause.

I looked up from my knees from where I ducked my head to find him crouching near me. "... what?"

Grinning like the idiot he was, the boy pointed a chubby finger towards something and I followed it only to land on _something_.

It looked like a small flame-shaped red bush, and my eyes trailed to find it attached to a green, scaly tail. Warily, I followed the thin frame that steadily grew thicker in girth until I saw it disappear somewhere behind me.

"What the _FUCK_?!" I screamed as I shot back to my feet, looking wildly for an animal that had to be nearby, but there was none to be found.

Beside me, the boy laughed cheerfully. "Oh, neat! You _are_ just like me!"

"I'm _NOTHING_ like you!" I snarled at him.

He blinked up at me, startled from my hostility before transforming his face into a grin. "You're right! Mine is just fur and yours is covered in scales like a snake or dinosaur."

There was no point in talking with him, he just stuck to whatever he decided and left it at that. I wanted to grab a nearby rock and bash his brains in...

"My name is Son Goku," the main protagonist of a fictional story introduced himself with a polite bow. "What's yours?"

"Don't fucking bother," I spat at him as I turned away from him with every intent on getting as far away from this person as possible. "I'm leaving."

" _HUH_?" I could practically hear him gawk at my retreating back.

I didn't know how long this— _whatever the hell this was_ —went on, but I didn't want to stick around the monkey-boy to wait for this entire thing to end. I felt angry and irritated when I heard his voice; all the happiness and innocence oozing out of him that it made me sick to the stomach. I was a dirty, old woman and life really wanted to fuck with me if it stuck me in this bizarre vision of a happy-go-lucky boy from a show I hadn't seen for quite a few years.

Like being suddenly yanked from behind, I was forced to an abrupt stop and I peeked over my right shoulder to find him grabbing my new appendage like it was a game of tug-of-war.

"What are you _DOING_?! Let me go, you little fuck!" I snapped at him.

"I can't let you go! You'll die!" he said.

"Yeah, right!" I snorted and forced myself to move, not caring at all. You couldn't die from a dream.

I stopped from taking another step when I heard the sound of something roaring in the distance. Another shot of nostalgia hit me like an unstable truck dashing through a freeway: a memory of watching a girl with a flashlight, sitting in a car in the middle of a storm, and a huge eye staring right her through the glass pane of the car window. Big, viscous animals with teeth and claws waiting in the dark to grab, tear, and devour whatever was wandering blindly in the abyss of the deep jungle that looked more ominous as I stared long into it.

Still, I couldn't die from a dream... _right_?

"Please come back," the kid behind me pleaded. "There are animals that hunt in the night, at least in the day you have a better chance of survival when you can actually _see_ what's trying to kill you."

I closed my eyes and swallowed.

"Just one night. Then, I'm gone."


	2. The Monkey King & Bloomers

I was... still here.

The closet-sized room, the trinkets, the home necessities, and the home looking in dire need of improvement so that it wouldn't collapse in on itself. Everything from what I had seen last night was still here, and the rock in my stomach grew heavy as my mind processed that I was still dreaming up a fantasy that I was somehow unable to wake up from.

 _"How can you tell when you're dreaming?"_

 _"Have you heard of counting sheep?"_

I swallowed thickly as I slowly sat up from the make-shift bed on the floor (like _hell_ I was going to climb back on a bed that belonged to a boy who had no idea what even a _bath_ was), away from the four-posted bed of where he ( _it_ ) had been curled on top of the still-warm sheets when I had finally drifted off into a wary slumber. Wordlessly, I situated myself until I sat Indian-style and stared down at the fist on my lap briefly until closing my eyes. I willed my tense body to relax whatever worries it had like some sort of thick perfume that refused to be extinguished.

 _"I don't want to fall back to sleep."_

 _"But you will. It's a blanket that comes whether you want it to or not. You can try, but it will come and wrap itself around you. And the longer you try to escape the sleep, the longer you will find yourself wrapped in it."_

 _"... What do I do when I want to wake up from the dream?"_

 _"You count."_

"One," I began slowly without a tremor in my voice. A good sign for me; that I was growing to be more accustomed of these difficult exercises. With my index finger up, it was soon joined by another digit. "Two."

 _"Counting fingers in dreams creates awareness."_

"Three," I went on, my hand nearly still from the calm that emitted. However, I was not out of the woods yet, as my breathing began to grow heavy. I didn't understand the feeling, it was as if when I counted the last number, that this dream would... "Four..."

 _"Having extra fingers, deformities, or being abnormally colored are your biggest clues that you are indeed dreaming."_

One more finger to count. It didn't matter, I told myself. I mustn't falter just because there was a moment where I wanted to believe that maybe things―

 _"Remember this well. Count your fingers if you can't tell what is real... and what is illusion."_

No. It didn't matter. Not anymore, and certainly not for someone like me.

"Fi―"

 _ **BAM!**_

"Hey, I'm back!" came a boisterous announcement when the doors slammed open without warning.

Son Goku was standing at the gaping entrance of the tiny home with his stupid smile plastered on his face like permanent marker. All I could do was stare dumbfounded at his appearance.

Seeing as I wasn't going to say anything, he waved an arm wildly towards something from behind him. Whilst doing that, he simultaneously began to explain that while he had been bringing back fish for us to snack on, he had been run over by a total stranger. Said stranger then proceeded to shoot at him with tiny metal balls that pinched harshly against his tough skin, but that was when he had subsequently threw the metal beast that the stranger rode on in the first place. He defended himself by saying that he had assumed that they were trying to steal his catch.

My eyes drifted beyond the chattering boy to find someone entering behind the shorter boy in an obnoxious attire made entirely out of pink. She was tall and pale, her eyes a bright cerulean with her braided hair to match. The dress she wore was very short, so it showed an obscene amount of her pale legs that looked like they went on until disappearing into a pair of bright blue sneakers. When those bright eyes of hers that shined with a glint of curiosity and wariness locked with mine, my head suddenly pounded from deep inside my skull.

This girl, I remembered with clarity, was the one who changed a boy's entire world.

"Oh," her voice, sweet yet demanding attention like the snobby girl-child she was, filtered through my ears. "Hello! Are you this little boy's older sister?"

 **…**

Did she really just mistake me to be this brat's older sister? I knew people had their dumb moments but this took dumb to a whole new level if she honestly thought I was _that young_. I was nearly about _three_ times their age for Christ's sake!

"Are you touched in the head?" my mouth ran before my brain could stop it.

The reaction was instant. Her soft features morphed into sharpness from the furrow of her brows and deep scowl on her lips.

"What is with the attitude around here?! I've been physically attacked by this little monster, and now I'm being _verbally_ attacked by some gloomy girl!" she ranted as she crossed her arms and turned her back to us like I had seen four-year-old toddlers do with their parents. "Well, fine! I was planning on sticking around for this dinner of yours, but from the lack of manners around here, I'm beginning to feel less inclined to join you!"

"Oh," the boy blinked up at the taller girl before shrugging and hauling the rest of the dead fish he mentioned from earlier inside the increasingly tiny home. "Hey, look what I brought for lunch! You're probably hungry right now 'cuz you haven't eaten at all from yesterday, right?"

The blunette that had her back turned towards us whirled around in shock. She was a very pampered girl from the big city, as I recalled easily, and she was accustomed to being the center of attention when she demanded it from either her parents and/or attendants. The utter dismissal of her presence was probably like some sort of slap to the face when the boy immediately disregarded her in such a blunt fashion. The blunette opened her mouth a few times, speechless from what she assumed it to be some cold-shoulder treatment, when something flickered at the corner of our vision.

A glass sphere, perched on top of a purple cushion above the drawers, illuminated momentarily until the light died down. The jewel repeated the process a few times that it kicked the duo into action as they hastily approached the jewel.

 _'How could I forget,'_ I chided myself as the blunette and tailed-boy banter above the illuminated sphere. _'The Dragon Balls.'_

The whole point of the entire plot was that very orange jewel that the teenager and the kid were now squabbling over. Gather all seven starred spheres and a giant dragon would appear (after a spectacular light show), momentarily darkening the entire world, and grant whatever wish the person desired. Wealth, pleasurable company, eternal youth, to conquer the world, the list of possibilities that could go on and on...

The Dragon Balls were a curse.

Whose ever bright idea to create these balls and gift them to a race made up of greedy, selfish, bloodthirsty people deserved a kick in the balls (no pun intended). Because of these things, people fought and died in order to obtain the absolute power they presented.

And it was a well known fact that absolute power corrupted, absolutely.

They needed to be destroyed, to prevent the temptation and malice it brought. Who cared if they brought the dead back to life? Isn't that where we all go one day? When all our years are spent and gone, isn't it just natural that we lay down, roll over and die?

Why fight what was only natural? After you died, you didn't have to go on anymore. You could finally take it easy and not be troubled with whatever weight hindered you from before...

We were all born to die; our bodies were slowly dying, some more faster than others, but that's where we all ended up.

These balls were pointless, troublesome, and not worth the effort. They were simply better off lost.

"Hey, hey!" chubby fingers danced across my glazed-over vision. "Guess what? We're gonna go with Bulma to find more grandpas!"

Again, I just stared at his gloriously stupid grin that I was beginning to liken it to the Chesire Cat. Suddenly, the words registered and I could only point out one thing from his sudden intent of wanderlust.

" _We_?"

Behind him, the blunette groaned.

"No, kid!" the teen stomped over to us with a Dragon Ball of her own in her gloved hand. "We're going to find more Dragon Balls! And for the last time, they're not grandpas!"

"Huh? Then they're―"

Having enough of the shenanigans, I picked myself up from the floor and went straight through the still open entrance of the shack. The smell of dead fish slowly drew away from behind me the farther I walked away, but the sound of hurried footsteps trailing after my own told me that it wasn't going to be easy shaking off the idiot that couldn't get the hint that I wanted to be left alone.

I seethed from beneath my thinly-veiled blank composure when I heard the teen following after us.

"Hey, wait up!" she cried from behind us.

"So," I heard his voice say from right beside me. "Where are we heading off to? Do you know where the Dragon Balls are?"

I had, had enough of this _bullshit_.

"Listen to me, you little piece of shit," I sneered down at him when I abruptly stopped my trek, a viscous spark bursting when the boy was taken aback from the venom seeping through my teeth. "Where I'm heading, you won't _definitely_ be there. Because I'm going to long-fucking-gone from this shit hole to land my ass in another hell hole, but surely a place where I don't ever have to see your fucking face or hear your goddamn voice again!"

This time, _I_ was the one being stared up at by him in speechless silence.

" _EXCUSE ME_!" the blunette was suddenly up in my face, her body shielding the nuisance on two legs. "What is your problem?! You can't talk to him like that!"

"Fuck off, and get lost!" I threw over my shoulder as I walked away from the duo.

"Oh my gosh, sweetie, are you okay...?" I heard her say from behind me as I knew she was probably trying to see after the boy who remained silent throughout the small spat.

A tight feeling settled in my chest. With some effort, I brushed away the heaviness from my chest and continued my walk towards some path where I hoped would lead me far away from here. My bare feet brushed against the soft grass, my toes nearly digging into the dirt road that formed the further I went.

"W-WAIT, KID!" the distant shout of the teen alerted me.

I was yanked from behind, the force of the pull making me stumble back until I fell on my ass. Startled, I looked over my shoulder to see what had just happened.

The black anger that had previously began to disintegrate returned like whiplash from the sight of the wild-haired boy holding onto the scaly tail that somehow was attached to my body. The red bushy tip wagged helplessly in the clutches of the sausage fingers wrapped around the green appendage.

I was going to _bury_ him if he didn't let go this instant.

"Goku!" the teen called, hurrying towards him when she saw the murder glinting from my eyes. "Kid, let her go! She's totally not worth it!"

A pause.

"You're a girl?"

His question was directed towards me. I merely bared my teeth at him to show I was far from amused by his change of subject to avoid what was happening between us.

"Of course she's a girl, you idiot!" the blunette shouted. "God, you weren't kidding when you said you've never laid eyes on a girl before! And another thing, what is up with you two having tails?!"

With a yank of my own, I pulled loose the tail he held hostage and stood back up. He was so tiny and helpless-looking, it was so easy for everyone to write this brat as something not worth batting an eyelash. Despite knowing who he was, and more importantly, what he would become, it didn't stop me from looking down at him with open contempt.

The teen girl moved protectively between my glaring eyes and the thing that _would not leave me be_.

"I get it! Since my tail is covered in fur, that means I'm a boy, but if your tail is scaly, that means your a girl!"

He made it sound like he had discovered the secrets of the universe rather than a way to differentiate the appearance and genital system of the two sexes.

I was done.

" _STOP FOLLOWING ME_!" I exploded my anger upon him. "What does it take to get away from you? A half-way flight around the fucking continent?!"

"I dunno 'bout continent," a new voice made itself known, making all three of us freeze. There was a sense of dread filtering the air, and I wasn't alone if the pale face on the blunette was anything to go by. "But I'm pretty sure I can fly ya away from here!"

A shadow loomed over us, and we trailed our eyes up to find a giant, robust, winged dinosaur staring straight towards me with drool dripping from its gaping jaw.

Before any of us could react, the beaked reptile flapped a single wing beat that the air just threw us all off our feet. I landed harshly on the ground, nearly rolling around in the dirt when another strong wind beated down on me, my hair waving about wildly without restraint. The wind howled all around me that I barely heard a shrill scream and an outraged cry when something thick and heavy wrapped itself tightly around my waist.

With a strangled croak, I was being carried away from the ground. The wind that whipped wildly around me grew less the higher I went.

And I watched the teen and boy disappear in the distance as I flew away with the hungry predator into the big, blue sky.


	3. Self(less)

Despite the threat of ultimately being eaten by a carnivorous dinosaur, the flight was oddly peaceful.

The morning mist that had rolled through the dense mountain forests grew faint the higher the sun rose in the late morning sky, the meadows below glinting in the sunlight from every blow in the wind that it looked like waves on land, and the clear rivers rushing through every twist and turn in the rocky canyon looked tempting to take a dive in.

It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Akira Toriyama, the creator of the world of Dragon Ball, based these mountains from the ancient portraits of China. The wilderness of China was vast and beautiful, and if not for the smog that constantly covered pretty much half the country, it probably would have been more beautiful with the sun illuminating the sky. This was probably the closest thing to compare to Asia's forests, mountains, and lands.

Just remove the giant Jurassic Park monsters and the picture was complete.

"Hope ya enjoyin' the view, sweetheart," my flying captor's voice broke through my mesmerized trance. "'Cuz this'll be the last thing you'll ever see when I eat you!"

Oh, right. I was going to be ripped apart in gory bits for the dino-bird to have an easier time in eating me.

Although, it probably wouldn't be _too bad_ ; the intense fright of me being ripped apart while simultaneously being eaten alive was a sure fire way to awaken me from this bizarre dream. In fact, I probably should have done this from the beginning when I had the chance. It was the fear and the argument the monkey-tailed boy presented about the slim chances of me walking away unscathed by the wildlife that moved in the dark. That, and he had been holding the tail attached to my spine as hostage to prevent me from going further.

Maybe that kid served as some sort of ego part of my brain that wanted to remain asleep by pulling me back to these old memories of a faint childhood love I had for the Eastern-made story.

Maybe my body was extremely tired to the point that I couldn't get up from my bunk to wander aimlessly in the stark white halls; hallways that smelled of disinfectant because the staff used it to get rid of the filth and squalor we, their patients, brought with us.

Or maybe my brain finally cracked after decades spent fruitlessly trying to work itself back together.

 _'What was there to fix anyway? I was always a broken mess since day one.'_

My mind flashed to the thoughts of this picture replaced by white walls, the annoying teen girl and obnoxious monkey-boy turned to apathetic hospital nurses and gaunt patients, and the feeling of warm fires and bright skies melting into cold rooms and dark nights. This place that I had once loved to look at with awe now served as a reminder that I was no longer a bright-eyed child wanting to go on adventures with Son Goku and his friends.

I was old, bent, twisted, cynical, and hateful. I hated the happiness that bubbled in that boy, I hated the luxury that girl had, and I hated that I was dreaming about things I could never hope to have.

Better to die violently because that was the only thing I knew: terror and helplessness.

 _'It won't be long now,'_ I thought as I closed my eyes when I felt the dinosaur squeeze my waist ever so slightly. _'I'll wake up after my skin and meat have been torn off my bones.'_

There was a faint buzz in the air. The wind drowned out whatever noise there was in the sky, but the buzz persisted as it grew louder... and probably closer, if I had to guess. The dino-bird sensed it, too, because it suddenly got a little harder to breath with its damn claws squeezing me a little more tighter than what was comfortable. As if trying to breathe on thin air wasn't difficult enough.

 _'Keep squeezing like that and I'll pass out!'_ I thought angrily as I huffed, my fingers digging in the hard flesh of the creature.

Back to the noise...

"NO WAY!" my captor cried, momentarily tightening his grip again that made me cry out when my bones ached.

Following his line of vision, I too was taken by surprise at the sight.

The blunette girl was driving a chopper-plane hybrid transport with the monkey-tailed boy riding at the top of her windshield. The dark-haired boy gave a threatening sweep of his red bo staff towards my captor, his childish features sharpened by the fierceness emitted from him.

"Listen up, jerk!" came the girl's voice through an intercom. "We got you surrounded, so give up while you can still fly!"

"W-WHAT?!"

"LET HER GO, YOU MONSTER!" the short boy demanded, glowering at the dinosaur.

"I got missiles locked on your sorry tail!" the teen added.

While this scene played out differently from what had originally happened in the story, I couldn't stop myself from admiring just how tough the teen girl was when the opportunity presented itself. Had she been able to keep her wits to herself, instead of flailing about like some headless chicken, she probably could have been able to escape and totally destroy this animal with her multiple weaponized transportation vehicles and planes.

"Wait a minute, Bulma!" the shorter boy turned to the girl sitting below him. "Didn't you say those missiles are explosive? We can't use those if they blow her, too!"

"GOKU, YOU _IDIOT_!"

Oh, she was bluffing when she said she would user her missiles.

"HAH!" my captor laughed. "Almost had me scared there! You little roaches can eat my clouds, 'cuz there's no way I'm giving up my _dinner_!"

With that said, the dinosaur picked up his speed as he nose-dived down towards the ground below. My insides flew up from the plummet, the blood in my veins jumping rapidly because of the fall that reminded me of riding on a wicked roller coaster. Behind us, the two hurried after the dinosaur holding me hostage while the boy was shouting at my captor.

Just when I thought the dino-bird was about to pull some kamikaze stunt, he swooped up in time I thought my feet brushed against the ground. We ducked into the thick trees that were wide enough for the dinosaur to fit through, but some of the weaker branches fell apart when they got in his way. I could hear the plane above the trees, and there was some open spots that they could see us just as we could see them. Figuring that this wasn't going to shake them off easily, the dino-bird headed straight to some cliff that led into a large ravine.

The rapid river below looked fearsome up close when my captor dived a little too low for comfort. I felt the sprays of water that hung just above the rushing river, and for a moment, I fell back into another old memory of a different kind.

 _"So listen, me and Jake are planning to go rafting for the weekend for our birthday. Wanna come with?"_

 _I tapped my pencil atop my closed journal, thinking pensively about the offer. It sounded pretty exciting, thinking about how much fun it would be riding a raft, screaming playfully as we were splashed or when someone fell off the raft and left behind to fend for themselves while they screamed vengeance as we drifted away. All my friends smiling, talking, and poking fun at each other as we spent a weekend together―_

 _"Sorry. Can't." I told her._

 _She stared at me. While she appeared disappointed at the decline of her invitation, there was a look on her face that I wished I could write off as something else. Over the last few weeks, I finally took notice of her observation directed towards me. Maybe I was being paranoid, but something told me that she was getting into something that I didn't want her poking her nose on. She never noticed before, too caught up with her own life with family and other circle of cliques, but recently... she started to take classes: classes that involved study of human behavioral patterns._

 _"Why not?" she asked as she watched me quickly gather my books and journals into my school bag._

 _I could only shrug as I left behind and out the door with the rest of the student body, eager to get away from those dark eyes of hers that bore on my back._

 _That had been the last time I ever talked to her as a friend, and only spoke civilly with her from then on._

"What does it take to lose these pests?!" the dino-bird growled as he saw that the plane wasn't going to lose him anytime soon.

With a roar, he flew straight up towards the rocky mountainside in a vertical angle, having no trouble dodging large bonsai trees that stuck out on the mountains edge. Higher and higher we flew, and when I looked back below me, I saw that the duo were still tailing us.

"TAKE THIS!" the dinosaur roared as he swung his thick tail against the mountainside.

The rocks hanging off the edge crumbled apart and created a landslide. Boulders the size of cars fell down towards the two below us with the idea that they wouldn't be able to get away and get crushed in the process. I heard the girl give out a terrified screech, but somehow, she deftly maneuvered her way through the raining rocks. Why were they even trying to rescue me? I had been nothing but a total bitch to that kid since I woke up last night, and yet he and that girl were risking a lot just to get me back.

They were persistent, and because of this, the dinosaur holding me was beginning to lose what speed he had from all the flying around. All animals were bound to get tired, this creature was no different, especially since he's been wasting his energy from speeding the air like some fat jet. Thinking to get more of his speed back, he ceased his climb upward of the mountainside and began to descend back towards the ground below in another nose-dive, however, it wouldn't work this second time 'round.

"DON'T WORRY!" came a shout through the whipping air. "I'M GONNA RESCUE YOU!"

With a leap (and a strangled shriek from the girl driving the plane), the crazy kid sailed in the air before pulling back his red bo staff, which suddenly stretched itself into an impossible length. With a mighty swing, the pole swung down towards us until―

 _ **THWAK!**_

The claws that held me loosened their harsh grip, and I was falling down towards the ground. The dinosaur sailed past me, limp and lifeless from having his cranium crushed by the blow the pole delivered. My hair was whipping around wildly that it nearly blinded me, and my body refused to move as I fell further towards the earth.

Well, I didn't have to wake up from this dream in some sort of horrible way that involved razor-sharp teeth and spilled intestines. At the very least, I would just hit the ground and blink awake the next second to find myself back in the hospital.

But that idea never came into fruition.

Instead, a hand grabbed a hold of my own, and through my curtain of hair, the very boy I tried to get away from was right up and close in my personal bubble. And once again, he was giving off that brilliant smile of his as his dark eyes caught my own.

"I gotcha!" he cheered as he aimed his short pole towards the fast-approaching ground. "Power Pole, extend!"

The wooden staff zoomed down before touching ground, and our bodies jolted when the boy kept a good hold of my hand as we both slid down towards the ground in a much more safer pace. Overhead, the girl driving the chopper-plane began to descend to the ground as well when she saw that we were alright.

My bare feet touched soft grass and dirt. My body trembled from the adrenaline pumping in and out from being captures by a dangerous, carnivorous dinosaur, flying high in the air, and falling fast towards my death; all this occurring less than an hour. There was only so much excitement my body could barely take.

I watched wordlessly as the boy hopped off the pole, tapping it so that it would return to regular size, then sheathed it back to place. The sound of rushing footsteps alerted us, and seconds later, the teen appeared through the trees that surrounded us.

"Oh my gosh, are you guys okay?!" she asked, her voice breathless from probably screaming one too many times.

"Haha! That was nothin'!" the boy waved a hand as if swatting away the idea that he was not okay. "That was the most excitement I ever had in forever!"

"You idiot! Don't make it out to be something to laugh about! _WE COULD HAVE ALL DIED BACK THERE_!" her shrilled voice made a few birds perched on a nearby tree startle and fly away.

"Why did you save me?"

The question came out of nowhere. It was so quiet that the two kids almost missed it if not for the girl taking a breather before she decided to yell some more at the ignorant boy.

"I couldn't just let that mean ol' bully eat you, silly!" the kid laughed.

It was so simple and casual, nothing like the answers I had been used to hearing from other people. Then again, he wasn't other people.

"... why not?"

The smile on his face died, and the girl's beautiful, pale face twisted with horror. I continued on, unbothered by the looks I was on the receiving end of.

"I wouldn't have done the same for you."

Because this dream would fade away, and these two children would go along with it; why save something that would disappear in the end?

* * *

I was sitting inside a house.

It was different and strange, nothing like the houses I've seen normally, but it was better than a cramped shack. But different didn't always mean better. It was round, and the furniture that came along with it were so brightly-colored that it left my eyes feeling dizzy, and the whole place looked like it belonged to a really old person. Then again, this whole thing started back in the eighties, therefore everything was eighties styles with frizzy/curly hairstyles, colorful neon clothes making up most of a person's attire, and the music sounding drowned and muffled (until death metal had been invented that blew the whole nation).

I rubbed my eyelids, irritated by the colors surrounding me in the capsule house.

After that whole incident where the dinosaur failed to eat me and I becoming pancake splatter on the fall down (which either outcomes would have resulted in me waking up), the girl decided to make her so-called camp in the middle of the forested area (perfect cover from dinosaurs, supposedly). The process of the camp-making involved a smoke bomb explosion and the sudden appearance of a dome-shaped house.

The boy was the only one who freaked out from the entire spectacle, claiming that there was black magic involved and the girl was some sort of enchantress seeking to do us harm.

"FOR THE LAST TIME, GOKU, I AM NOT A _WITCH_!"

The kid " _oohed_ " and " _awwed_ " at everything that was introduced to him for the first time. The television playing some movie reminiscent of Godzilla, the teen using a blender when she wanted to fix herself a quick banana milkshake (much to the kid's delight), and finally, indoor plumbing.

Which led to our current predicament...

"What do you mean you don't know what a bath is?!" she demanded, her face scrunching in disgust as she stared down at the black-haired pre-teen. "Ugh, Goku! No wonder your hair is sticking up, you probably got stuff stuck in that wild nest of yours. I can't even imagine going without a bath for days, let alone years! I bet you never brush your teeth, either!"

"What do mean by brushing my teeth?"

"UGH! It's time you learned, you nasty brat!"

With that declaration, the blunette led the puzzled boy towards the hall which led to the bathroom. Before she disappeared around the corner while pushing the kid's shoulders, she paused and turned towards me. There was a pause in the air, the excitement that roused from her when interacting with the monkey-boy went quiet when she looked to me.

"Just... wait there for a second. 'Kay? I got some clothes that will probably fit."

I sat wordlessly from where I deposited myself when I had first entered the dome house. Taking my silence as an agreement, she went on her way with the boy in tow. I listened to the distant sound of running water, the two kids squabbling, and the scent of coconut shampoo being used. My eyes didn't linger on anything too long (otherwise my eyes would be blinded by the colors again), and they trailed around until they landed on the front door.

It was dark outside already, animals, while not quite as big as the dinosaurs in the wider, open spaces, but just as lethal, wandered about. I could easily stand up, go out the front door without hindrance, and walk into the night until something found me and... _helped_ me into waking up faster. With that made up, I stood from the plastic chair and went straight for the door.

"―something's wrong with her."

I froze from taking another step. I was passing the hallway that the girl and boy disappeared through, and the bathroom door was a little open, so their voices filtered through the hall like an echo. Not loud, but enough for me to hear if I was standing at the opening of the hallway.

"She just stands there and, and... It just freaks me out!"

"Maybe 'cuz she's tired."

"No, Goku, that's not it."

They were talking about me.

"Seriously, she scares me. She reminds me of those sociopath serial killers."

"Bulma, what's a sociopath?"

I held my breath.

"It means someone who doesn't care about people. It also means someone who doesn't feel anything."

I stared at my bare feet, my little toes red and dirty from all the walking around in the dirt and grass. I swallowed thickly, my eyes squeezing shut as I heard Bulma Brief's voice echoing in my head, her words spelling out the exact diagnoses that I sometimes heard from the mouths of the numerous doctors I had been patient to for the last decade.

I was not a sociopath, I was―

"―scared."

… What?

"What do you mean scared?"

"I mean, she was really scared when I saw her. She screamed as if she was crying out for help. That's how I found her, by the way!"

"Really?"

 _ _The whirlwind of madness grew and grew and I could only helplessly scream in hopes that―__ anyone _ _―would come and save me from the darkness ready to swallow me whole―__

 _"― _p! Your okay!__ WAKE UP _ _!" someone screamed in my ear.__

Warm hands. Little fingers combing through my hair as they eased the terror thrumming in and out of me, their voice a soft whisper that spoke of calm and security.

A shriek shook the house, and I stumbled back into a wall from shock of the high-pitched scream.

" _OH MY GOD_! YOU HAVE A TAIL GROWING OUT OF YOUR BUTT?!"

Oh. I looked over my shoulder and, against my hopes, found the new reptilian appendage with a bushy end attached to my spinal tail. It swayed slightly, the foreign muscles on my back slowly exerted with some trying efforts.

The bathroom door slammed open, and I pushed myself away the wall and back to the plastic chair in time when the girl entered into the main living area. She stopped when she saw me, and after a moment of quick deliberation on her part, spoke.

"Is... is your tail real, too?" she hesitantly asked, her blue eyes growing wide as saucers.

My eyes flicked down to the green tail with a red bush before reverting back to hers.

"You can always use an ax and see if it'll bleed or not." I said.

With that, the blunette fainted on the porcelain floor. A second later, the wild-haired boy arrived with a towel wrapped around his head and naked as the day he was born. He may be strong, but his body was covered in baby fat that told of how very young he was.

"Huh? Bulma? Are you taking a nap on the floor?"

An hour later, I'm staring at the folded clothes placed neatly in my arms. After going through a series of clothes that the teen girl stocked up in her trip to the mall before her decision to go Dragon Ball hunting (they were apparently necessary from whatever party she would come across in her travels, to her emergency battle dress if she should happen upon a cute guy). A white sleeveless top and dark shorts that showed way too much (and she wanted an old vulture like me to wear one?), but it was better than wearing torn up pajamas to bed. Let's not forget the pair of undergarments in blue and red plaid patterns.

With a point to right the direction, I went to get my bath.

Everything was messy from the girl having thrown out the kid when he had entered without her knowledge while having a bubble bath. With quick work, I returned the items in what I guessed was their rightful place, just any flat surface for me to keep things out of the way so I wouldn't slip on it by accident. In a few tries, I got the warm water running and started to strip out of my pajamas.

The moment my toe touched the water, my entire body prickled in goosebumps. I slipped in the tub, the bathroom beginning to fog from the heat that came from the heated water. I ducked my head in once to wet my hair before resting it on the edge and simply stare at the ceiling.

The dream was bizarre so far, but it was these small things that made me feel less stressed about it.

A small splash spooked me, making me sit up abruptly, but I stopped when I realized that my tail was protruding from the water and just swaying lazily as if it was satisfied. Seeing as I should hurry up and wash my hair, I reached for the coconut shampoo I picked up from the floor and uncapped the top to poor the creamy liquid in my hand.

I combed through my hair, the soap soaking in and bubbling up until I was wearing my own crown of bubbles. The water turned murky from the shampoo and grime, making me grab a nearby soap bar and wash cloth to start wiping the dirt off my bare skin. With a couple of head dunks, my hair was free of shampoo and I could continue focusing on cleaning the rest of my body. There was a mud stain on the back of my hand that I failed to notice, so I set myself to work in wiping it off―I paused from my work when I noticed something else with my hand. Over the years, and because of my history of recklessness and depravity, my body became something of a walking corpse. My veins were near transparent, age spots riddled all over like I was some freckled ginger, and my hair was so thin and frail that it would fall out in near chunks.

The hand that belonged to me looked clear of any bony fingers and veins, the fingers a perfect oval shape and appearing healthy. I lifted a leg out of the water, and lo and behold, my feet was in the same condition as my hand. Shakily, I ran a hand up through my hair to find my light-thin hair, but I was met with a thick mass of pure ebony.

I threw myself out of the bath tub, the murky water splashing loudly, and all the movement caused my tail to knock a few things down from their shelves and crash loudly on the marble-tiled floor. My hands, my feet, my legs, my chest... they were not the same! There was a knocking on the door, the teen's voice muffled behind it as she was asking if things were okay. Spotting a fogged mirror, I rushed towards it and began to furiously wipe the surface to understand what was happening to my body.

 _'What's going on?! What's going on?! WHAT'S HAPPENING?!'_

The sound of my flesh wiping against the mirror made squeaking noises, and I let out a frustrated sound of my own when the mirror was too blurry for me to see what was reflected. I grabbed a small drying towel and tried again. The knocking outside grew louder, the girl and the boy calling for my attention.

"Hello? _HELLO_? Are you okay?"

"Do you need someone to scrub your back?"

"Goku, ju-just wait here! Hey, I'm coming in!"

The blurry figure on the other side of the mirror slowly came to clarity, the door clicked to signal that someone was entering, and everything slowed down.

A girl was looking back at me.

Gone was the old, wretched woman with crows feet around her unfocused dark eyes; gone was the thin hair that grew lighter and duller over the years; gone was the walking skeleton with her flesh barely clinging onto her bones.

Gone.

"―ere's a towel! What is with you guys and your lack of modesty?" I barely registered as something was wrapped around my small but _healthy_ shoulders. "GOKU! What did I just say?! Get out, you pervert!"

Gone

"I just wanted to see if I could help her."

"Come up with a better excuse if you wanna peek on two beautiful girls, you peeping tom!"

 _Gone_

"What's a peeping tom?"

"I swear, it's like someone created you to be annoying and be sent off on a mission from space to annoy me!"

 ** _Gone_**

My knees buckled and I slipped down to the floor, the towel wrapped around me jostled and sliding down my back to crumple around my waist, and my head couldn't carry its own weight as I stared heavily at the floor. I couldn't hear anything around me anymore, my vision tunneling into a narrow space, and body feeling as though it was being weighed down by a ton of bricks that dragged me into the deep water abyss.

 ** _GONEgo_** _nEGO_ ** _ne_ go _ne_** gON ** _eGO_ NEg**o _nEGO_ ** _Ne_**

I was old, bent, twisted, cynical, and hateful.

Yet the person that looked back at me was a different woman. She was _young_. Between the ages of sixteen or nineteen, and she wasn't covered in scars, nor did she look like a zombie with skin full of color, blood, and meat on her bones. And the dark circles that used to surround her eyes, they were gone.

The strangest thing, however, was the green eye shadow that was painted across the lid of her eyes until they shot up to the corner of her dark lashes. And the eyes... the eyes that reminded me of the burning fire I had awoken to when this ludicrous dream of mine began.

This body, although mine, was different. Was there a part of me that was vain? Was there an inner child somewhere that wanted to unfurl itself by throwing away the nasty image of an old woman and replace it with a youthful young woman barely coming into the beginning stages of adulthood? This fantasy probably could have completed itself, if not for the bright-eyes that did not belong, nor the strange marking above my lids, and the ridiculous tail.

This body was different. It was a troubling thing to see my once youthful face, maybe a vain part of me wanting to bring back all the things that I had lost when I had been young, but this was now the image I appeared in the dream world.

Honestly asking, what else was going to be thrown in the mix of this crazy dream of mine?

The minute I wake up from all this, I was going to find my doctor and demand a higher dosage to my pills.


End file.
